Need Help with the Numbers Game
 

Need advice ladies:

So, I've totally jump kicked my butt into exercise gear big time in the past two weeks. Saw a huge weight loss number last week (-7.2lbs). But, I was wondering if someone could help me figure out the math of everything. I am a calorie counter. I figure right now I eat between 1300-1800 daily. I've also been burning just with exercise daily 2,375 according to http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi. How does the math work though? How do I know what kind of loss I should look for each week and how do I get my calories just right? Thanks for any and all advice and info.

Well it seems like you are already seeing results!! I plugged your stats into freedieting- which I use and if you exercise everyday, this is what I get:
Maintenance: 3514 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 2811 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss: 2360 Calories/day

I wouldn't dip your calories as low as 1300- because you won't be able to lower them much more if you plateau. That's just my opinion and what I've learned from the boards though! good luck shan!

I am about 30 pounds lighter then you and on average burn approx 450 calories per day...i eat 1800 calories per day and cycle it...ive eaten that since i was around the 300 pound mark.

According the caloriecount.about.com, my personal choice of sites, being completely sedentary (no exercise) is about 1700 at 1.5 lb weight loss per week. If I were you i'd stay at the higher end of the spectrum for one week and go from there (giving yourself a 100calories range :D)

The math is NEVER flawless though, for example. Free diet gives me 1700-2000 as MY weight loss number, but, if I was to consume that I would maintain not lose. :)

Anyone else have input? Thanks everyone.

The general concept is to burn more than you intake. Our bodies at rest will burn a certain amount of calories just to keep functioning going. This is our BMR (basal metabolic rate) or RMR (resting metabolic rate). They are calculated with two different formulas, but seem to give about the same results.

Notes on BMR/RMR

• As we get older our BMR/RMR decreases.
• BMR/RMR does not account for body composition. More muscle = more caloric burn.

BMR/RMR Calculator

Added on top of RMR is the calories we burn in activity for our total calorie burn.

RMR + Daily Activity = Total Burn
Calories consumed - Total Burn = Deficit or Gain
3,500 calorie deficit = 1 pound of fat lost

Theoretically that is how it is supposed to work. The difficulty comes in getting accurate numbers. Since body composition is not taken into account your RMR could be inaccurate. We end up losing muscle in our efforts instead of fat which lowers our RMR. Determining how many calories we burn through activity can be difficult to really measure. We can sometimes misjudge and misrecord our caloric intake.

So we all often look to our personal results and tweak our plans. What we would like to be an exact science becomes more like a observational study. But counting our calories and tracking our activity does give us some data to work from.

One thing that can help to determine how accurate your numbers are is reverse math. Let's say you know you burned 7 pounds in a month.

3500 x 7 = 24,500 caloric deficit

In that time you consumed 45,000 calories. (1,500 calories per day x 30 days)

24,500 deficit + 45,000 calorie intact = 69,500 caloric burn
69,500 calories / 30 days = 2,317 avg caloric burn / day

I would then check this against what is being estimated as total daily burn and take into account that the more you lose the less your body burns at rest.

You seem to be getting amazing results! Crunch your numbers, but if you are getting success that is all that really matters right?

I just found a more accurate BMR/RMR burn calculator that takes into account body composition. If you can get a good measure of body fat this would be the better one to use!

Katch-McArdle BMR Calculator

One pound of fat is 3500. So if you want to lose a pound a week you need to eat 500 less calories than you consume. If you want to lose 2 pounds a week thats 7000 calorie ddeficit and that is 1000 calories less a day. Now you need to consider that is only pure fat loss. On the scale we see water, we see muscle loss is we are dieting and not exercising, which you arent so no worries about that.
Something else to consider. If your stepping up the workouts and adding muscle (which is awesome and will raise your metabolism and give you sexy strong curves) you may not see as much reduction as the weight you are losing.
Something else to consider. Those calories burned calculators are great. But they are an estimate. Spicy foods, coffee, these can slightly raise your metabolism that day. And everyones body is different, so you will be burning maybe more maybe less than the estimate says.
If you want two pounds a week, I would shoot for say eating 1400 to 1500, that is close ot the supposed 1000 calorie deficit. Watch the scale and your energy levels. If your hitting the gym hard you may not see scale movement, or youmay even see gain, but pay attention to how your body feels and how your cloths are fitting. Also pay attention to energy. Working out energizes you, after awhile anyways, but it also makes you hungrier. Your body is fighting to keep at its set point. It doesnt know the difference between dieting to lose weight, or eating less for famine. If you are losing crazy weight and feeling tired al the time, your metabolism may be better than you think and you may need to push it up closer to 1800 calories.
Also if your not seeing change on the scale, AND your cloths arent fitting looser, then you may have to cut a bit out.

Sorry this is sooo looong. Hope this helps!

Interesting note about muscle versus fat. I had always thought of that excuse as just an excuse. But before my wedding I starting working out, running, stair machine and weights 6 days a week, lifting 4. Over the course of almost two months or hard hitting workouts the scale only moved three pounds! But I went down almost 2 sizes. I not only got down to where I fit into my dress, that was too snug when I first tried it on, but it was a little loose on my hips (my normal problem area) I actually lost 2 inches off each thigh and an inch and a half off my waist. (not my problem area). Now granted I was lifting weights and workingout harder thanI ever have in my life. In fact two weeks after my wedding I ran my best half marathon time ever and was hardly even sore. Never happened before I'm always VERY sore after a race. I did go from being pretty lazy and hadn;t run in a few months to hitting the gym and track that hard. SO where I have been moderately active, I wouldn't expect to see so little weight loss this time around if I worked out that hard. But I was pretty shocked that the scale barely budged. But everyone telling me I looked so good, and "wow what have you lost 15 or 20 pounds". Was enough to let me let go of thew scale reading.

That's what is totally bugging me right now. Yes, I had a huge loss the last two weeks...but this week I'm only down .3. Yes, you read that right, (-.3). Same exercise, same intense workouts, I kinda bummed my knee up at the gym on Friday I was working so hard...and what do I have to show for it? -.3. SO FUSTRATED would be an understatement. I know muscle is a good thing, but I would rather be losing weight right now not gaining or changing to muscle. I'm really upset...grrr!

shan - I agree with others when they say you need to keep your calories higher for consistent weight loss. You lost so quickly that first week or so because your body shed water when you started your program. You will loose more consistently if you fuel your body.

I recently broke a 2 month plateau by upping my calories from 1400 to 1700. I workout 5 days a week (running 3 days a week for 2 or 3 miles, and Jillian Micheals DVD 2 days a week). My job is as a childcare provider which is fairly active as well. By upping my calories, I went from .5 or 0 losses every week to 1 - 1.5 for the last 3 weeks.

Note - if you are going to increase your calories, make sure they are quality calories (nuts, whole grains, lean meats and veggies). Also, if you are working out quite hard, you might try to pay close attention to your protein intake. It really DOES make a difference.

HTH,
Andrea